"I will not boast in anything,
no gifts, no power, no wisdom.
But I will boast in Jesus Christ,
His death and ressurection.
Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer.
But this I know with all my heart,
His wounds have paid my ransom."
"Give us clean hands,
Give us pure hearts,
Let us not lift our souls to another."
These are just a couple of the songs that I used to sing with the girls in my dorm. :-) Those were the days, me and geetar and some of my best friends. I was thinking today that if there is one thing I miss about not being in college anymore, it's living in a dorm surrounded by amazing christian young women learning to seek God with all of our hearts. I was thinking about stupid school loans today and how nothing for the fall seems to be falling into place. But I would not trade those two years at BBC for anything.
One of the most important lessons I learned at BBC is that your relationship with God is not based on your feelings/emotions. That even when you don't feel like seeking Him, He will bless you when you do. And that a relationship has it's ups and downs. Sometimes you might feel really close to God, other times He might feel like He is somewhere in Tim-buck-two ;-) But He is always, ALWAYS there.
The past couple of weeks I have felt strong and weak at the same time. I wish I could put it into words. My faith is strong but my body is weak. Watching someone you love in so much pain takes a lot out of you when you are trying to support them and trying to put your life on hold to help. I feel drained. Yet through all of this I have had to trust God and have faith that He would protect my mom. Practically living in the hospital for the past couple of weeks, it's been amazing to learn even more than I did about how intricate the human body is. It's complexity leaves me in awe. But at the same time, we are just dust, only here for an instant.
If I were to die tomorrow would I feel like I've wasted my life? Would I feel like I've loved enough? Given enough? Been selfless enough? These are the types of questions that I think we all need to ask ourselves frequently. Because life is too short. Life is just simply too short to waste, and to come to the end wondering what you have done to make a difference for the God who has made all of the difference in your own life.
I've also learned that sometimes the biggest difference we can make comes out of the smallest action. I truly believe that God is pleased when we use our daily lives, handing over the ones we love, the people we interact with, and making a concious choice to love. God is pleased when I choose not to have an attitude with my mom, or when I choose to not become easily frusterated. He's pleased when we pray to Him throughout the day, or smile at someone who really needs to feel loved. He's pleased when we grow and become more like Him. I even dare say, that He's pleased when we make mistakes and LEARN from them. God doesn't ask for perfection, He doesn't ask for the well. Jesus said he came for the sick, because it isn't a person who is well that needs a doctor. God chooses the broken, the weak, the disobedient, the poor, the sick... the sinners. Because I think it's when we are weak that we get on our knees and know without a doubt that we NEED Jesus. That without Him we are just that speck of dust and nothing more. But WITH Him, we are a speck of dust within the midst of a big, amazing story. A story with trials and troubles, AND love and redemption.
I think God is pleased when we recognize that He is God and we are not. When we come to Him as we are, trusting that He will continue to grow and change us. I think it's when we recognize that it's the Holy spirit inside of us, that God can look and be pleased. I really do believe that God is the perfect father. That his unconditional love is always there. That yes, sometimes we dissapoint Him and let Him down, but that His love does not change. That He takes joy when we follow what He has taught us. And like any father, He wants us to be happy. He wants us to seize every moment in life, to serve and to savor it.
There's this awesome movie that I love called, "School of Life." In the movie the main character teaches his students... "how much time do we have?" He responds saying "not a lot." By the end of the movie, He responds with, "Enough." When we approach life knowing we can make a difference because of the difference God has made in our lives, I think we learn to live a little differently. And knowing that making a difference looks like loving your wife in the way she deserves, or mothers loving their children. It looks like messed up people trying to love like God would love. It's families sticking together and growing together. It's the women and men who seek God in the early hours of the morning, while others seek Him late into the night.
I challenge you... What can you do this evening? tommorrow? This week? Maybe it's not rushing through the grocery story and running the old ladies over to get home sooner. Maybe instead, strike up a conversation or smile at those who you feel slow you down. Maybe it's making the concious decision to show love to someone who is difficult to love and you would rather avoid altogether. Maybe it's putting yourself aside, and doing something you don't like to do as an example of love to someone else. Take out the trash without being asked, or don't be selfish when your sibling wants a turn on the computer. All of these things just take a few minutes. But I think it all comes down to choice and heart attitude. You can choose the high road and put yourself aside, or you can choose comfort and the easy way. I think the more we make concious little decisions to love and serve, the more the focus comes off of us and turns to God and other people.
<3
"When I think about the Lord,
how He saved me, how He raised me.
How He filled me with the Holy Ghost,
How He healed me to the uttermost.
When I think about the Lord,
How He picked me up, turned me around.
How He set my feet on solid ground.
It makes me wanna shout! (WHOO! ;-)
Hallelujah! Thank you Jesus.
Lord You're worthy of all the glory.
And all of the honor,
And all of the praise."
no gifts, no power, no wisdom.
But I will boast in Jesus Christ,
His death and ressurection.
Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer.
But this I know with all my heart,
His wounds have paid my ransom."
"Give us clean hands,
Give us pure hearts,
Let us not lift our souls to another."
These are just a couple of the songs that I used to sing with the girls in my dorm. :-) Those were the days, me and geetar and some of my best friends. I was thinking today that if there is one thing I miss about not being in college anymore, it's living in a dorm surrounded by amazing christian young women learning to seek God with all of our hearts. I was thinking about stupid school loans today and how nothing for the fall seems to be falling into place. But I would not trade those two years at BBC for anything.
One of the most important lessons I learned at BBC is that your relationship with God is not based on your feelings/emotions. That even when you don't feel like seeking Him, He will bless you when you do. And that a relationship has it's ups and downs. Sometimes you might feel really close to God, other times He might feel like He is somewhere in Tim-buck-two ;-) But He is always, ALWAYS there.
The past couple of weeks I have felt strong and weak at the same time. I wish I could put it into words. My faith is strong but my body is weak. Watching someone you love in so much pain takes a lot out of you when you are trying to support them and trying to put your life on hold to help. I feel drained. Yet through all of this I have had to trust God and have faith that He would protect my mom. Practically living in the hospital for the past couple of weeks, it's been amazing to learn even more than I did about how intricate the human body is. It's complexity leaves me in awe. But at the same time, we are just dust, only here for an instant.
If I were to die tomorrow would I feel like I've wasted my life? Would I feel like I've loved enough? Given enough? Been selfless enough? These are the types of questions that I think we all need to ask ourselves frequently. Because life is too short. Life is just simply too short to waste, and to come to the end wondering what you have done to make a difference for the God who has made all of the difference in your own life.
I've also learned that sometimes the biggest difference we can make comes out of the smallest action. I truly believe that God is pleased when we use our daily lives, handing over the ones we love, the people we interact with, and making a concious choice to love. God is pleased when I choose not to have an attitude with my mom, or when I choose to not become easily frusterated. He's pleased when we pray to Him throughout the day, or smile at someone who really needs to feel loved. He's pleased when we grow and become more like Him. I even dare say, that He's pleased when we make mistakes and LEARN from them. God doesn't ask for perfection, He doesn't ask for the well. Jesus said he came for the sick, because it isn't a person who is well that needs a doctor. God chooses the broken, the weak, the disobedient, the poor, the sick... the sinners. Because I think it's when we are weak that we get on our knees and know without a doubt that we NEED Jesus. That without Him we are just that speck of dust and nothing more. But WITH Him, we are a speck of dust within the midst of a big, amazing story. A story with trials and troubles, AND love and redemption.
I think God is pleased when we recognize that He is God and we are not. When we come to Him as we are, trusting that He will continue to grow and change us. I think it's when we recognize that it's the Holy spirit inside of us, that God can look and be pleased. I really do believe that God is the perfect father. That his unconditional love is always there. That yes, sometimes we dissapoint Him and let Him down, but that His love does not change. That He takes joy when we follow what He has taught us. And like any father, He wants us to be happy. He wants us to seize every moment in life, to serve and to savor it.
There's this awesome movie that I love called, "School of Life." In the movie the main character teaches his students... "how much time do we have?" He responds saying "not a lot." By the end of the movie, He responds with, "Enough." When we approach life knowing we can make a difference because of the difference God has made in our lives, I think we learn to live a little differently. And knowing that making a difference looks like loving your wife in the way she deserves, or mothers loving their children. It looks like messed up people trying to love like God would love. It's families sticking together and growing together. It's the women and men who seek God in the early hours of the morning, while others seek Him late into the night.
I challenge you... What can you do this evening? tommorrow? This week? Maybe it's not rushing through the grocery story and running the old ladies over to get home sooner. Maybe instead, strike up a conversation or smile at those who you feel slow you down. Maybe it's making the concious decision to show love to someone who is difficult to love and you would rather avoid altogether. Maybe it's putting yourself aside, and doing something you don't like to do as an example of love to someone else. Take out the trash without being asked, or don't be selfish when your sibling wants a turn on the computer. All of these things just take a few minutes. But I think it all comes down to choice and heart attitude. You can choose the high road and put yourself aside, or you can choose comfort and the easy way. I think the more we make concious little decisions to love and serve, the more the focus comes off of us and turns to God and other people.
<3
"When I think about the Lord,
how He saved me, how He raised me.
How He filled me with the Holy Ghost,
How He healed me to the uttermost.
When I think about the Lord,
How He picked me up, turned me around.
How He set my feet on solid ground.
It makes me wanna shout! (WHOO! ;-)
Hallelujah! Thank you Jesus.
Lord You're worthy of all the glory.
And all of the honor,
And all of the praise."
Posts
